The Master’s Minute

Helpful Tools and Tips

The Master’s Minute – Adding Up the Small Stuff

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As financial advisors, we strive to provide value to our clients in many ways. Most commonly, our value is thought of in terms of the ‘big things’ we help our clients accomplish such as planning for retirement, executing a business transition plan, or becoming debt-free. These major accomplishments are milestone events and are occasions we enjoy celebrating together.

However, under the surface, there are many small details that go into executing these big picture planning items. To be able to celebrate the big moments, it requires an accumulation of ‘small stuff’ along way that over time adds significant value to your financial life. Finding these efficiencies is reflected in one of our core values at Master’s: conscientiousness.

Here are a few examples of some of the finer details that can add up over time:

  1. We recently saved a client $75/month on their life insurance premiums by restructuring their portfolio to reflect their needs more accurately. Over the life (20 years) of the original policy, this is a savings of $18,000.
  2. During the 4th quarter of the year, we do year-end tax planning for many of our clients. This planning has saved some clients a few hundred dollars and saved others thousands of dollars. When executed properly, longer-term tax optimization strategies can create hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax-savings over time.
  3. Our strategic rebalancing approach to asset allocation has been shown to add 0.30%-0.40% of total annualized return to a portfolio. This seems minor at first glance, but if you invest $1,000,000 for 30 years using an effective rebalancing strategy it can add an additional $600,000 to the ending value of the portfolio.

We are also focused on adding value in qualitative ways with the ‘small stuff’. Some of the common things we do are coordinate planning with your other professionals, provide easy access to your financial information, and give you timely responses when you have questions for our team. Our goal is that both the small and big things add up to a rewarding client experience for all of you who put your trust in our team at Master’s!

How else can we provide value to you as a client of Master’s, either big or small?